I say all this not having read the book, so perhaps the fault is with the author of this piece, but Hitchens seems to have a basic lack of knowledge and understanding of Christianity (I say that from a Catholic perspective). He also compares apples and oranges (throw Christianity, ID, and the cult of mohammedism together as if they were comparable). “when supposedly he(Christ) also did not die at all?” Nonsense. I would ask Mr. Hitchens, how does one rise from the dead without dying?
“To him, it’s blindingly obvious: the great religions all began at a time when we knew a tiny fraction of what we know today about the origins of Earth and human life. It’s understandable that early humans would develop stories about gods or God to salve their ignorance. But people today have no such excuse. If they continue to believe in the unbelievable, or say they do, they are morons or lunatics or liars. “The human wish to credit good things as miraculous and to charge bad things to another account is apparently universal,” he remarks, unsympathetically.”
Well, Mr. Hitchens, even now we have only a best, slightly educated, guess as to the origins of life and the planet, so the argument that we now “know better” and thus have no “need” for God or religion, is an empty argument. Additionally, as you point out, it’s a human wish to attribute good and evil, and not necessarily an accurate understanding of God’s will, but an attempt to make sense of the fallen world we live in.
Sounds to me like his whole book is a self-absorbed “aren’t I smart” display without much substance.
I took it that way too, about Kinsley being an atheist, but I too am not 100% sure. A very amusing column, thanks for posting it.
However, I have to question this assertion “Religious leaders from all the major faiths, who disagree on some of the most fundamental questions, managed to put aside their differences to agree that Rushdie had it coming.”
I certainly do not recall anything like that. And it annoys me to have the, shall we say “excesses” of Mohammedism confabulated with other religions. Maybe some one can clarify.
I know this is a horrible thing to say, but Hitch, I’d probably miss if he ended up going to the other place because he was an atheist.
Kinsley...not so much.